Former Olympian garners Midland political money

Bob CampbellMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, March 26, 2008

By Bob Campbell

Staff Writer

Seeking to win back the Kansas congressional seat he held for 10 years, three-time Olympian Jim Ryun said Wednesday the image problem Democrats are having this year is irrelevant to his party's drive to regain power in Washington.

The Topeka Republican said the GOP should not bank on the prostitution-related resignation of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, financial misconduct charges facing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick or rancor between presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

"We need to focus on the economy - make President Bush's tax cuts permanent and lower taxes for small business," Ryun said before a 4 p.m. confab with 100 Midland High and Lee High track athletes at Memorial Stadium.

"We win when we stay focused on the economy."

In Midland for a fundraiser at the home of Congressman Mike Conaway and his wife Suzanne, he faces Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins in the Aug. 5 primary and hopes to take on Democratic incumbent Nancy Boyda, who beat him two years ago, in the Nov. 4 general election.

A Second Congressional District win by Ryun or Jenkins would bring their party closer to regaining the U.S. House majority it lost in 2006.

Ryun said Congress must enact national immigration reform rather than let the states deal with the issue piecemeal. "What we need to do is govern the country," he said.

"We've been fortunate to avoid another terrorist attack, but it's a matter of when, not if, we have another one."

When asked if there's a parallel between the competitiveness of congressional politics and world class track, he said, "There are traits that transfer - discipline, learning how to treat people and being willing to put in a hard day's work."

Showing the shiny 1,500 meters silver medal he won in 1968 in Mexico City, an upbeat Ryun stood in bright sunshine and related being cut from his church baseball team and junior high basketball squad before finding his milieu as a sophomore cross country runner and placing fifth statewide.

He clocked a 3.59 mile as an East High School junior in Wichita and the next year was on the 1964 Olympic team in Tokyo. His 1967 world record of 3:51.1 stood for eight years.

Ooing at that and his 1:44.9 800 meters, the high schoolers were encouraged to set high goals and give maximum efforts to achieve them.

"You never know what you can accomplish until you get out of your comfort zone," said Ryun, 60, describing running 20 miles a day and 30 timed 400 meter runs per workout in his youth.

He stays in good shape for his age but said it has been a long time since he tested his mile speed. "I'm down to four minutes per 800 meters," he said, laughing.

Ryun said his faith in Jesus Christ enabled him to transcend the anguish of being tripped and disqualified in a preliminary run at the 1972 Munich Olympics. "I was no longer bitter," he said.

"God allowed me to be disqualified from the world's most renowned athletic competition to show me how to be a real winner."